Mother and son jailed for
charity tax fraud
by Gary Skentelbery
A WARRINGTON mother involved in a million pound charity tax fraud has been jailed for seven years.
The charity was patronised by actress Joan Collins, although she had no day to day dealings with the company.
At the time of its collapse in 2002 the actress was reported as saying: “I supported this charity for five or six years and think it is extremely sad this has happened.
“Catch was doing very good work. I am not exactly sure of the circumstances that led to this. I thought the people running it were good people, but obviously something has gone terribly wrong.”
Mary Johnson, aged 60, from Rixton and her 23-year-old son Paul Johnson, were among four people jailed for a total of 19 years in Manchester for their part in the fraud involving public donations to a childrens charity, discovered by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) investigators.
The offences related to False Accounting and Cheating the Public Revenue contrary to Common Law. The charges centred on the theft, failure to operate PAYE taxes and abuse of Gift Aid schemes.
HH Judge Hammond said: ?People are more than willing to give to charities and even more so to charities that looked after sick children. I regard people who collected for these charities to hold a position of trust and anyone stealing that money was in breach of that trust and will be sentenced accordingly. Those involved collecting for this charity were in business to make a living for themselves.?
Johnson appeared in the dock alongside Trevor England, who was one of the original co-founders of the charity of CATCH (Care and Action Trust for Children with Handicaps). Over the years the charity (and associated charities) came under the scrutiny of the Charity Commission due the low percentage of donations which were actually applied for charitable purposes and the remuneration packages available to the founders and management in the organisation. England went on to found Catch Trading Co Limited, a trading company set up to engage in commercial activities which the charity could not engage in due its status and constitution.
The whole CATCH organisation was based in and around Swansea but as it had no fundraising arm it originally contracted the fundraising to a company in Manchester, Drawtreat Limited.
Johnson was the sole director and shareholder of Drawtreat Limited a company contracted to CATCH to fundraise and provide databases of donors.
During the HMRC investigation it was found that some of the donors on the database were falsely listed as famous fictitious cartoon, TV and film characters.
England, aged 61, of Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, pleaded guilty to Gift Aid fraud and one theft charge and was sentenced to six years.
Mary Johnson, aged 60, of Manchester Rd, Rixton, Warrington pleaded guilty to the PAYE offence and stood trial in respect of two theft offences. She was found guilty to both counts of theft. and was sentenced to seven years. She was the sole director and shareholder of Drawtreat Ltd a company originally contracted to CATCH to fundraise and provide databases of donors.
Her son Paul of School Lane Rixton, Warrington ? pleaded guilty in respect of a PAYE offence and was sentenced to 12 months in jail. He opened envelopes containing cash and cheque donations from donors, counted and banked cash and cheque donations, and calculated, recorded and paid commissions and wages to telesales staff whilst working for CATCH and Catch Trading Co Ltd.
Her daughter Donna Siddaway, aged 22, of Manchester Rd, Rixton, Warrington ? pleaded guilty on a PAYE offence and was sentenced to 200 hours community service. Siddaway assisted her brother in the opening of envelopes containing cash and cheque from donors etc whilst working for CATCH and Catch Trading Co Ltd.
Andrea Glancy, aged 25 of Victory Road, Cadishead, near Warrington ? pleaded guilty to the PAYE offence in was sentenced to two years. She was Admin Manager at CATCH and Catch Trading Co Ltd.
All sentenced have been disqualified from being a director of a company for eight years.
Steve Armitt, Group Leader HMRC Criminal Investigations, said: ?This concludes a detailed and complex investigation into individuals and their businesses that clearly weren?t paying the correct taxes, were reclaiming tax rebates not due to them and misusing money donated or raised for charitable purposes. The sentences reflect the seriousness with which this type of crime is regarded. HMRC investigation teams will always work to tackle serious fraud and bring the perpetrators to justice.”
Teddy bear
boost for charity
by Lesley Wilkinson
TEDDY bears will be “Stuffed with Hugs” by local youngsters when a new store opens in Warrington today (Friday).
They will be among the first to have fun at the unique Build-a-Bear workshop in Golden Square Shopping Centre from 9am.
And the kind-hearted bear lovers will donate their work to Warrington’s Sure Start Children’s Centres, which provides support to families throughout the town. A representative from the charity will also help out with the task.
At the new store children make their own stuffed animal and stores have proved popular throughout the UK and abroad.
The “Stuffed with Hugs” event is the first at the new store. It will be repeated tomorrow (Saturday) when the first 100 guests will be invited to make a free bear for the charity.
Police hunt
for flasher
by Lesley Wilkinson
POLICE are hunting a man who indecently exposed himself to four young girls on a footpath at the rear of a Warrington theme park.
The incident occurred at about 10pm on Saturday May 19 when the girls were walking along the footpath at Ladywood Road/Wrexham Close behind Gulliver’s World.
A man ran past them jogging. He ran past them again a few moments later. He had removed his shorts and was holding his t-shirt up indecently exposing himself to the girls. The man then ran off along the path.
The man is described as white in his late 30s/early 40s, 5ft 8in tall, slim with short brown hair and an unshaven pale face.
He was wearing black or navy blue t-shirt and loose green shorts.
Anyone who recognises the man or has information about the incident is asked to contact Sankey Police on 0845 458 6385.
Historic hall plans
to go on show
by John Hendon
PROPERTY developers are inviting members of the public to a special exhibition outlining their plans for the historic Bewsey Old Hall near Warrington.
Property developers Urban Splash will be presenting their proposal for the development of Bewsey Old Hall at Bewsey Barn Community Centre, Old Hall Road, Whittle Hall on Saturday 16 June between 1200 and 1800.
All are welcome to view the details, talk to Urban Splash and feed back their comments.
Bewsey Old Hall has recently received scheduled ancient monument consent which allows a full planning application to be submitted for the conversion of Bewsey Old Hall into seven apartments plus an adjacent development of 48 apartments.
Student engineers tackle
real life problems
by Lesley Wilkinson
ENGINEERS of the future from Priestley College, Warrington, have been working on “real life” problems at Fiddlers Ferry Power Station and AMEC, which has a base in Birchwood.
And the youngsters marked the end of a year-long project with a celebration at the University of Manchester.
Two teams of students have been working in a professional setting with the employers, as part of the Engineering Education Scheme, to look at real life issues – such as reducing energy expenditure and how to move sewage sludge waste around an incineration plant.
Both groups started projects at the beginning of the year when they joined students from other schools and colleges on a three-day residential at The University of Liverpool. They worked on their
solutions and constructed scale models of their proposals.
Findings were presented at a celebration and assessment event, where they set-up up a stall to illustrate their outcomes and made presentations to a panel of senior engineers. They received certificates for their work.
Science tutor Alan Durbin said: “Both our teams performed magnificently whilst at Manchester and have done so during the course of the year, spending many extra hours on the projects outside the classroom.”
“The company engineers from Fiddlers Ferry and AMEC were very pleased with the outstanding performance of our students, who themselves learnt some invaluable skills as part of the process.”
Pictures show the teams who represented AMEC and Scottish and Southern Energy’s Fiddlers Ferry Power Station.
Soccer club looking
for girl players
A WARRINGTON football club is looking for new players and is hoping to form a new girls team.
Winwick Athletic wants enthusiastic players to join the successful U10’s ‘A’ team in preparation for moving to U11’s in September 2007.
Training is on Wednesday evenings at Winwick Leisure Centre from 5.30pm to 7.00pm throughout the summer.
Anyone interested should be 10 years old by August 31 and should contact team manager Jason Peake on 07810 311 062.
The club is also hoping to form a Girls Team at the U8’s age group. Interested players (who should be seven or eight years old on August 31) should contact club secretary Paul McMahon on 07886 815 149.
The club has an excellent coaching program and received “Charter Standard Development Club” status from the FA in December.
Lottery rollover
NUMBERS selected in the lottery for Week 37 by Warrington Hospital League of Friends were 4, 11, 12 and 13.
There were no winners and the ?25 consolation prize was won internally.
The estimated jackpot for next week is ?800.
